Happy Hallowe'en

Remember when stencils were all the rage and we all bought a ton?? Well, now they seem to just sit there as I don't really use mine anymore. Then I discovered this cool technique!! It's using Distress Inks and those stencils and gives an awesome background.

First, create a background using Distress Inks and an Ink Blending Tool. Then put a stencil over top and spritz with water. Heat set a bit (be careful not to melt your stencil), then remove your stencil and either heat set or set aside to dry (I'm impatient, so I heat set). As it dries, the areas where there was water will lighten. It gives you an awesome tone on tone dimensional background.

I did this technique for my Hallowe'en card. I used a harlequin stencil and I really like how it turned out! And it worked out so well because the little postmark stamp fit perfectly in my bottle cap!!

Distress Flickers Again

I am running out of time to get my post up for today, so it will be another quick post. The good news is that my sister came over today and we scrapbooked and I got another two layouts done to share with you. Yeah!!

Here is another card I did for January's Kayric Technique Club (Distressed Flickers).

Drop a drop or two of Distress Reinkers on a non-stick craft sheet and mist with water. Then dip an old toothbrush in and using your thumb to "flick" the colour on to your paper. I did this years ago with Twinkling H2Os and loved the result. I do wear gloves for this though since you will get rather stained hands. And make sure all your cool projects are away so that they don't suffer collateral damage.

And because you are using Distress Colours, you can stamp with your Distress Inks and it will all match. I love that system!

Peace Pears

They say it takes 21 days to establish a new habit and I'm trying to make blogging a habit. So, this is day 4, right?? I'm hoping I make it to 21.

Truthfully, I think it's less of a habit thing and more of a I ran out of time thing. Or I don't have anything to show thing. But I'm working on both of those too, so hopefully I can do well this year.

This is a card I did for my December "Quick Cards" class. I really like this pear and haven't used it in awhile, so it was fun, along with an old technique: kissing. I stamped the Pear with Distress Ink and then stamped another stamp on the Pear so I got the texture. Very quick and easy.


The Pear is from "A Stamp in the Hand" and the script is "Hero Arts." I love that script stamp and use it a lot; I really think everyone needs a background script stamp.

I hold my Quick Cards class the first Thursday afternoon of each month. People are welcome to sign up for one or as an ongoing commitment. Let me know if you are interested!

Another Pearl Resist

I really like how this card turned out. I did a Pearl Resist with Silver Liquid Pearls and Aged Mahogany Distress Ink and then I just stamped the verse from Urban Tapestry by Tim Holtz. I distressed the edges and mounted it.

New Product

The kids were off last week and Glenn took vacation as well. You would think that would give me a ton of extra time to stamp, scrapbook and play, right? Well, I did a bit, but since we were both home, we spent a ton of time cleaning and organizing the house. The basement is looking great which makes me very happy, and in turn, feeling much more creative.

Today, I went through two boxes of new product. There wasn't a ton of new stuff, but that's OK. It was still fun.

The biggest news is that I have four packages of the Winter Distress Inks in stock now. These are a limited run and when they run out, they run out. Each store was allowed to order 9 packages and that was it. There are no reinkers for these, but the Distress Pads do very well without needing to be reinked. You could always use some Perfect Ink Refresher by Ranger too. Each set is $18.00. I'm offering them to my blog readers first.



I also have these somewhat cool little 2x2" stretched burlap and stretched canvas things. I didn't read the description very well and I thought it was a package of 2x2" burlap and canvas. I figured they would be cool to stamp on and staple onto a card. Out goes that idea, but they're still kind of cool. I haven't figured out exactly what to do with them, but they're cheap and so I might just play and make an embellishment of some kind. They would be quite cool to decorate and then make into a magnet for the fridge since they're only 2x2" They are $2.50 each.

Lastly, I ordered this cool Tim Holtz Stamp set. I love the script type background and I really like the windmill too. I figured I'd show it off in case anyone was interested. Otherwise, I can't wait to play with it and have some samples.

Pearl Resist

A couple of months ago, I did a Pearl Resist for my technique club. I love any kind of resist and if it is shimmery, then even better!!

For this one, I used Ranger's Liquid Pearls. I only had the Pearl, Silver and Gold to play with, but they make a bunch of different colours, so it could be quite cool.

I squished some of the Liquid Pearls on my craft sheet and then just used it to ink my stamp and I stamped. I heat set it, cleaned my stamp right away and then just used Distress Inks overtop with my Ink Blending Tool.

I love how this card turned out. I really like this set (Curtain Call 3 by Hampton Arts).

I've got Goosebumps

I've had a bottle of Goosebumps Texture Spray on my desk for over a month and finally sat down this week and played with it and I love it! It is so cool. For anyone who knows me, they know that I love anything resist. There are so many different techniques for doing resist and with the Goosebumps Spray, there is one more.

I ordered a bunch of stencils from Prima a couple of weeks ago and when they came in, they were so gorgeous. I went to get one when I was playing the other day, but I must have sold out at PMS (Pretty Mean Stampers) last week. Oh well, that's a good thing, right?? I'll just have to order more. I ended up pulling out a pretty stencil from Crafter's Workshop instead. It's of a cherry blossom and a little bird. It's so simple, but I really like it.

I found some information on the Internet about Goosebumps and then just started playing. I cut some white matte cardstock and placed the stencil overtop and just spritzed a bit. You really don't need a lot. And you'll want to wash the stencil off right away because when it dries, it's very difficult to get off the stencil. But, not to waste any, I put a piece of cardstock on top of the stencil before I washed it so I could pull off the negative. Then I washed it.

You can either heat set the spray or let it air dry. I then added Distress Ink with my Blending Tool. You can stamp some background stamps with Distress as well. Wherever there is Goosebumps, it will resist. When you're happy with it, then spritz some water on a paper towel and wipe the ink off the resisted areas. You can then stamp with Versafine or Chalk Ink which will cover the resist areas if desired.

Again, I used the Cherry Blossom template and Aged Mahogany Distress Ink. I stamped French Script (Hero Arts) as a background in Aged Mahogany and added the saying (Inkadinkado) in Versafine. It's a very simple card, but I love how it turned out!

I love how you can get a resist by using a stencil instead of a stamp. This opens up a whole new realm of possibilities for me. Needless to say, I have just added a whole bunch of template stencils to my next order.

Retro Week: Thursday

It's been fun looking back at cards I made and liked. I didn't pick the ones that I didn't like and it's nice to be reminded of different techniques that I used and which turned out.

Here is a pretty easy card.


I just made a background using Distress Inks. I smeared them on my craft sheet, spritzed with water and then pushed my white cardstock into the wet mixture. Then I just added some stamped images in various brown Distress inks and my favorite Eiffel Tower (Art Impressions) stamp in black. I stitched the outside of this card, but for the class, I just poked holes and drew the stitches.

Purple Flower

I wanted to share a card I made a couple of months ago.

I cut out the purple flower using my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die. Then I cut out the same flower from fun foam and I ran it through an embossing folder to give it some texture. I adhered the purple cardstock flower in the middle and then used the funfoam flower as a stamp and stamped it with Dusty Concord Distress Ink. I love that the stamp and flower coordinate.

To create the stamp, take funfoam and adhere a very strong double sided adhesive (I love the Sookwang sheets). Cut out the shape you want and then emboss it with an embossing folder if desired. Then adhere the stamp to some strong plastic (I cut apart the plastic that my Tim Holtz dies came in; but that plastic packaging is everywhere!). Then you have a stamp.

Mother of Pearl Hearts

A quick post to showcase another Mother Of Pearl card that I introduced yesterday. This one is done with Gold Lumiere paint and then I used Red Distress Ink overtop. Then I die cut two hearts (Tim Holtz) and stamped on them.

Very simple, but I like how it turned out!

Mother of Pearl

The technique for May was Mother of Pearl. It's a cool technique with Lumiere Paint and Distress Inks. It's a kind of resist and for those who know me, they know I love just about any type of resist.

This technique called for dabbing Lumiere paint onto white matte cardstock with scrunched up saran wrap. Then you heat set it (if you're impatient like me) or put it aside to dry. Then just apply Distress Inks overtop with a blending tool (I love the Tim Holtz Blending Foams). Then spritz paper towel with a bit of water and wipe off the ink from the Lumiere. You have a beautiful metallic resist.

As I was doing this, I started thinking. I wonder if you can stamp with the Lumiere instead of just dabbing it on and it worked great. I spread some Lumiere paint on my craft sheet and used some solid stamps. Then you can overstamp. If you stamp with Distress Inks overtop of the Lumiere, they won't stick to the Lumiere, but that creates a unique effect in itself. You can use Chalk Ink if you want it to stick.


For this card, I used my favorite Tim Holtz Set (Reindeer Flight). I love those trees! I stamped them with silver Lumiere paint and added two colours of green Distress Ink. Then I overstamped with Forest Moss Distress Ink because I wanted the green trees to be in the background.

In a Funk

I've been in a funk lately and haven't been stamping much. I'm really tired, as I haven't been sleeping well and I've been stressed which does not bode well for being creative.

Today my funk continued and I really just wanted to go take a nap, but I have too much to do. I needed to make a phone call after 1:00 and I had a bit of time, so I sent myself to my craft room to create.

I had been reading my friend Nancy's blog and she posted a one dimensional card that I really liked. I decided I'd start today by being simple and challenged myself to create a card with just stamps and inks. No embellishments or layers.

It was hard. You would think if it was just a bit of stamping and some inks, you could whip it off so quickly, but alas, I seemed to fight with it a bit. I don't really love the end result, but it was good enough to be considered done so I could move on.


For this card, I used three sets: Just Believe (Believe & the main tree), Slight Alterations (for the background) and Reindeer Flight (the background trees). I stamped in Distress Inks (Scattered Straw for the background, Forest Moss for the main tree, Crushed Olive for the background trees and Aged Mahogany for Believe).

Spotty Eiffel Tower

I love this Eiffel Tower Stamp (Art Impressions). I don't know what it is about it, but I just love it. And I love the background stamp which I've used on several cards recently.

The background is the same as has been featured all week. This one was done with Victorian Velvet & Dusty Concord Distress Inks and the Seeing Spots folder. I then stamped the background image (from "I See Paris" by Tim Holtz) with Dusty Concord. I stamped the Eiffel Tower and saying (Inkadinkado) in black overtop.

To create the perfectly matching bottom design, I cut the spotty background and a purple cardstock at the same time with one of my Tim Holtz border dies. The trick is to make sure your purple cardstock is about an inch bigger than what you are going to layer on top of it. Then place and match up the bottom and cut the rest of the sides to fit.

Then I just stamped the saying below the panel. It's another saying from one of Tim Holtz' word sets stamped in Dusty Concord.

Happy Birthday Colleen

It certainly is the little things that make life big. This simple little card is a tribute to my friend, Colleen. She was over the other day and I was showing her the fun foam embossing folder technique and she told me to do one with red and purple. I was skeptical as it's not a combination that I've used before, but I love it. The background was done with Fired Brick and Dusty Concord Distress inks and the Retro Circles embossing folder by Tim Holtz.

I cut the background down to 4x4" and put it on the card. Then I stared at it because I didn't know what else to do. I was working off another sketch and so I cut the white and red paper, but didn't know what to do with it. So, I just started looking through my Tim Holtz sets until I found something that would fit. I placed it over top of the background, but the empty purple spot was bothering me, so I took one of the stamps from "I See Paris" (one of my favorite stamps) and stamped it in black. Normally, I like a more subtle background for something like that, but I quite like how it turned out. Then I just added a little embellishment and I was done.

I've been using black more on my cards lately and I really like it. I used to think it was too bold and I tended to stick to my other colours, but for now, the black is working for me.

So, this card is for Colleen. Happy Birthday!

Yellow Telling Time

The other day, when I was playing with my new technique, I did this background first. I really liked how the Seeing Spots folder turned out. I used Scattered Straw and Dried Marigold Distress Inks.

I had just finished making all these backgrounds which was the fun and easy part. Then came figuring out what to do with them. It had been awhile since I had stamped and it always takes me a little while to get back into the groove. So, I grabbed my Sketch book (I referenced it in another post as well) and started flipping through it until I found a sketch that caught my eye. Then I just started adding elements and in the end, I really like how it turned out. I love how the black went with the yellow. The stamps are Tim Holtz, as are the embellishments.

Tall Trees

I made this card using the technique I described yesterday. I used the Tall Trees embossing folder by Tim Holtz (I love it because it has a matching stamp). I used Crushed Olive and Forest Moss Distress Inks to create the backgrounds. Then I overstamped with the stamp (from the Reindeer Flight set by Tim Holtz) in Olive Pastel Chalk Ink. Then on the one, I just stamped the saying right on the card. On the other, I stamped it on vellum which I stapled on the card. Both are very quick to make. One card is with the positive side of the fun foam stamp and the other is with the negative side.

The negative side:


The positive side:

It's been awhile ... again

I seem to go in bits and spurts. I will go hard and create a bunch of stuff and then I have to tend to real life demands and catch up on everything I've ignored while creating, and stamping and scrapbooking takes a back seat. I keep thinking that I will commit to crafting a little bit each day, but the reality is that I have 3 small children, a husband, a household and a business to run and sometimes those take all my time and I can't get in there. Or, I'm just tired and don't feel like it. And that's OK. I am jealous of people who can stamp for an hour or two every day, but often their children are older and I don't want to wish my time away. It would be so nice to have time every day just for me, but I know that will come one day and I'll be wishing that I had my children in my lap instead. Or, at least sometimes I might.

So, the reality is that sometimes I'll be here blogging away and other times I won't. I hope that my readers understand. Many of them know me and know I'll always come back. I love playing with my stamps and my room will always draw me back and then I'll share here.

I invited my cousin over to scrapbook on Thursday and I felt more like playing, so I flipped through some old Technique Junkies newsletters (I LOVE those things) and found a cool technique to try. I really like when I find a technique which uses stuff I already own. I know that seems odd for someone who sells stamping supplies, but I also believe it's my duty to show people what they can do with supplies they already have. And, in the end, I often find that they order more of those supplies anyway. And if they don't, then that's fine! I always hear people say, "I need to use what I have." And I agree. There are monetary and space limitations; we can't simply have everything new. But that said, a new technique with existing product will always be cool.

So, a new technique. This one is so easy (really, I shouldn't need to write that since I don't do complicated ones). You will need a die cut machine (Cuttlebug, Big Shot, Wizard), embossing folders, Distress Inks, fun foam, spritz bottle with water and white matte cardstock. I often demonstrate techniques with Distress Inks and I'm asked if you can use other dye inks instead. The answer: in my opinion, not and get the same effect. You could probably make it work, but the Distress Inks are made to be work well with water and the colour won't break down like with other dye inks. I love my distress inks and except for a permanent black ink, they are the ones I reach for 90% of the time.

First step is to run your fun foam through your die machine in an embossing folder. You might have better luck to heat your fun foam a bit before doing this. You will not get as deep an impression as if you used paper (and since it's so thick, you may need to change your sandwich), but that's fine. Then choose two colours of Distress Inks. You are going to ink most of your fun foam with your lighter colour (just rub the pad directly around on the fun foam). Then go back and add a second colour in a few areas. Spritz with water and place your cardstock on, rubbing over it from the back. Peel it up and you have a very cool watercolour type stamped background. Put aside to dry or use your heat gun if you are impatient (ie: me). Then you can flip your fun foam over and do the same thing using the other side of the fun foam to get the negative version of the design.

I made quite a few of these the other day and just labeled the fun foam with the name of the embossing folder so I could use them later.

Today, I'm just going to show the background I made with the Seeing Spots folder. I really love the big dots of this folder; it's easily one of my favorites. And it looks very cool when you used the negative of it! For this sample, I used Victorian Velvet and Dusty Concord Distress Inks.

Here is the positive side.


Here is the negative side.


I'll be back over the next several days to show you the cards I've been making with this technique. I hope you enjoy it!!

You will get your fingers dirty doing this one. If that bothers you, you can wear gloves or you can try a Craft Scrubbie by Ranger which does a fantastic job taking the ink off of your fingers.

Flourished Hearts

I have all these photos of Nathalie and thought I would just put a bunch of the really early ones together on a layout. I figured I didn't need a lot of journaling (and I had just finished her birth page and wrote enough on that to get me out of journaling for a few pages). I was originally going to copy this one layout in a book, but in the end, it didn't turn out anything like that layout which was fun. Sometimes, I just need to look at something and then I can turn it into something totally different. It doesn't need to look like a picture.

I had a friend years ago who knew a group of guys who lived together. They used to cook for each other and the only rule was that if you made something from a package, you needed to make it look exactly like the picture on the package. I know a lot of people who try to do the same thing with stamping and scrapbooking; they see a picture but don't know where to start because they don't have the same paper or embellishments. I try explaining that it really is just a guideline. Get some inspiration from it and then make it into whatever you want.

I got the pictures arranged and needed to figure out what I wanted to fill in the empty spots. I often find that the hardest part. I get sick of the same embellishments and so I get stuck. This time, I cut some hearts out of chipboard (I love my Cricut; I can cut whatever embellishments I want and I can make them any size I want). I inked them with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink using my Ink Blending Tool and then stamped my favorite flourish (Magenta) in black. I loved them and they looked great on my pages. But there was still empty spots and I was going to cut out a bunch of flourishes, but instead, I just stamped them in the empty spots and I loved it. It's so simple, which I love.

Asian Shimmer

I really struggled with this card and while I don't love it, I like it well enough, so I thought I'd share. I created the background with Gold Lumiere and Fired Brick Distress Ink using the technique I described in my last post. You can really see the gold which I love. It had a very Asian look to me, so I stamped the bamboo on the background. Then I stopped because nothing I did after that looked good. Nothing. So, I walked away for a couple of days and came back to it. I then had the thought to use my Cricut (Pagoda cartridge) and just cut out an Asian symbol and mount that instead of trying to find a stamp that I could make work. I added a bit of embroidery floss and called it a day.

More Salty Glimmers

I loved playing with the Salty Glimmers technique I posted about yesterday (have I mentioned how much I LOVE my Technique Junkies newsletter??). I did the small blue panel, but I wanted to try a whole background. I did the technique with the Walnut Stain glimmer mist I made using Distress Reinkers. It came out very dark and dramatic. Quite cool actually.

The instructions tell you to let it air dry. Anyone who knows me, knows I don't have a whole lot of patience to wait for things to dry. Besides, when I want to make a card, I never think to make the background ahead of time! I used to have a ton of backgrounds which I'd make and then put aside, but I never used them. I want to make the card from start to finish and I always wanted a colour or technique I didn't have in my stash, so now I just make whatever I'm going to want.

Anyway, back to being impatient. I made a purple background using a Dusty Concord spritz I made and threw the salt on it. I figured that if I just used my heat gun, the salt would go flying everywhere, so I grabbed some paper towel, wadded it up, and lightly dabbed the bulk of the wet stuff off. Some of the salt stuck to the paper towel and some stayed on the paper. I did this until most of the pools were absorbed and then flipped the paper over and flicked it from behind so that the salt would come off. Then I heat set it for a few seconds. Then flip and flick and heat set again. When it was dry, I just picked off the last few pieces of salt. Voila, a cool background and no waiting. My kind of technique. And as an added bonus, when I soaked up some of the ink, it lightened the background so it wasn't quite as dark.

After I had my background, I ran it through the scallop border by Tim Holtz. Then I cut a darker purple piece with the same border (I cut the purple piece slightly wider so that I could line everything up later). I then lined it up so that there was a small shadow at the bottom and cut off the extra on the other three sides. I stamped some background Tim Holtz images from Urban Chic and then stamped the bird (Tim Holtz: Urban Tapestry) and saying (Tim Holtz: Urban Chic) in black. Adhered it all to a white card and stamped the saying (Tim Holtz: Just Thoughts) in Dusty Concord Distress Ink.